_Question_. Colonel, to start with, what do you think of the solid
South?
_Answer_. I think the South is naturally opposed to the Republican
party; more, I imagine, to the name, than to the personnel of the
organization. But the South has just as good friends in the
Republican party as in the Democratic party. I do not think there
are any Republicans who would not rejoice to see the South prosperous
and happy. I know of none, at least. They will have to get over
the prejudices born of isolation. We lack direct and constant
communication. I do not recollect having seen a newspaper from
the Gulf States for a long time. They, down there, may imagine
that the feeling in the North is the same as during the war. But
it certainly is not. The Northern people are anxious to be friendly;
and if they can be, without a violation of their principles, they
will be. Whether it be true or not, however, most of the Republicans
of the North believe that no Republican in the South is heartily
welcome in that section, whether he goes there from the North, or
is a Southern man. Personally, I do not care anything about partisan
politics. I want to see every man in the United States guaranteed
the right to express his choice at the ballot-box, and I do not
want social ostracism to follow a man, no matter how he may vote.
A solid South means a solid North. A hundred thousand Democratic
majority in South Carolina means fifty thousand Republican majority
in New York in 1880. I hope the sections will never divide, simply
as sections. But if the Republican party is not allowed to live
in the South, the Democratic party certainly will not be allowed
to succeed in the North. I want to treat the people of the South
precisely as though the Rebellion had never occurred. I want all
that wiped from the slate of memory, and all I ask of the Southern
people is to give the same rights to the Republicans that we are
willing to give to them and have given to them.
_Question_. How do you account for the results of the recent
elections?
_Answer_. The Republican party won the recent election simply
because it was for honest money, and it was in favor of resumption.
And if on the first of January next, we resume all right, and
maintain resumption, I see no reason why the Republican party should
not succeed in 1880. The Republican party came into power at the
commencement of the Rebellion, and necessarily retained power until
its close; and in my judgment, it will retain power so long as in
the horizon of credit there is a cloud of repudiation as large as
a man's hand.
_Question_. Do you think resumption will work out all right?
_Answer_. I do. I think that on the first of January the greenback
will shake hands with gold on an equality, and in a few days
thereafter will be worth just a little bit more. Everything has
resumed, except the Government. All the property has resumed, all
the lands, bonds and mortgages and stocks. All these things resumed
long ago--that is to say, they have touched the bottom. Now, there
is no doubt that the party that insists on the Government paying
all its debts will hold control, and no one will get his hand on
the wheel who advocates repudiation in any form. There is one
thing we must do, though. We have got to put more silver in our
dollars. I do not think you can blame the New York banks--any bank
--for refusing to take eighty-eight cents for a dollar. Neither
can you blame any depositor who puts gold in the bank for demanding
gold in return. Yes, we must have in the silver dollar a dollar's
worth of silver.
--_The Commercial_, Cincinnati, Ohio, November, 1878.